Zeppelin (film)
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Theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Etienne Périer |
| Produced by | Owen Crump |
| Screenplay by | Donald Churchill Arthur Rowe |
| Story by | Owen Crump |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Roy Budd |
| Cinematography | Alan Hume |
| Edited by | John Shirley |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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Release date
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Running time
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100 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Zeppelin is a 1971 British World War I action-drama directed by Étienne Périer. The film stars Michael York, Elke Sommer and Anton Diffring. Zeppelin depicts a fictitious German attempt to raid on Great Britain in a giant Zeppelin to steal the Magna Carta from its hiding place in one of Scotland's castles.
During the First World War in 1915, Geoffrey Richter-Douglas (Michael York), a Scotsman of German descent, is a lieutenant in the British Army. He meets Stephanie (Alexandra Stewart), a German spy with whom he falls in love. She suggests that he escape to Germany, where the other members of his family and his friends are. As a loyal soldier, he reports this contact to his commanding officer, Captain Whitney, who also wants Geoffrey to go to Germany, but on a secret mission to steal the plans of the LZ36, a new type of Zeppelin under development at Friedrichshafen.
Geoffrey pretends to be a deserter and travels to Germany. At Friedrichshafen, he meets his long-time friend Professor Altschul (Marius Goring), who lives with his beautiful and much younger wife, Erika (Elke Sommer).
Geoffrey quickly learns that German Intelligence did not bring him to Germany for a family reunion. Following a meeting with Intelligence Colonel Hirsch (Anton Diffring), he is assigned to the LZ36 on its maiden test flight. As soon as it is declared airworthy, the airship is to take part in a military operation to steal many British historical documents, including the Magna Carta, from Balcoven Castle in Scotland. Geoffrey is to play a key role in the mission. After leaving Germany, the zeppelin lands on a lake in Norway to refuel and take on board a contingent of hand-picked soldiers.
During the wireless operator's absence, Geoffrey secretly sends a message about the Germans' plans to his commanding officer. The wireless operator returns and finds Geoffrey standing there just as a reply is sent to Geoffrey. After reading the new message and quickly catching onto Geoffrey's true intentions, Geoffrey and the wireless operator engage in a fist fight, but Geoffrey manages to knock him out. Soon after the zeppelin takes off, the wireless operator recovers and tries to expose Geoffrey to the captain, but Geoffrey overpowers him again and tosses him out the open window to his death, of which he reports to the captain under the pretense of witnessing the wireless operator going mad and committing suicide. The captain then makes Geoffrey the new wireless operator, which allows him to secretly send messages back to Britain unhampered. The airship then proceeds to Balcoven Castle.
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